PRWeb vs Roxhill in 2026: Self-serve US wire distribution vs a UK media intelligence platform
PRWeb sells reach: pay per release, from $120, and it goes out to a fixed network. Roxhill sells infrastructure: a UK journalist database, monitoring, and spokesperson analytics behind a sales call.
PRWeb
Roxhill- PRWeb charges $120 to $480 per release with no subscription. Roxhill requires a sales conversation for both its Professional and Enterprise tiers, with no published pricing at all.
- Roxhill bundles a UK journalist database, media monitoring, spokesperson analytics, and press release distribution into one platform. PRWeb only does the last of those four.
- Roxhill's spokespeople analytics tracks share of voice against named competitors at the individual expert level, a capability PRWeb has no equivalent for.
- Neither tool offers an API. Roxhill's data export is manual even at the Enterprise tier, and PRWeb has never offered programmatic access.
- PRWeb's reach is US-centric with global syndication through PR Newswire on Standard tier and above. Roxhill's database depth is strongest in UK press and thinner in North America and APAC.
- PRWeb has a 24 to 48 hour turnaround per release depending on tier. Roxhill is not a per-release product; it is a subscription for ongoing database access, monitoring, and outreach.
- Roxhill offers a managed insights layer with bespoke newsletters and board-ready reports. PRWeb has no comparable service; its reporting stops at view counts and syndication pickup.
PRWeb and Roxhill sit at opposite ends of what "PR software" can mean. PRWeb is a distribution mechanism: write a release, pick a tier from $120 to $480, and it gets pushed to a network of news sites and search engines with no ongoing relationship required. Roxhill is a media intelligence platform built for professional communications teams, combining a UK-weighted journalist database, media monitoring with smart folders, spokesperson share-of-voice analytics, and its own press release distribution, all behind a demo call since pricing is not published. They overlap only at the edges, mainly that both can get a release out the door. Everything else, from journalist relationship management to coverage measurement, only exists on one side of this comparison.
The tools at a glance
PRWeb
Self-serve press release distribution to thousands of news outlets and search engines
PRWeb is Cision's pay-per-release distribution product: no monthly commitment, no relationship management, just a release going out to a fixed network of news sites, aggregators, and search engines. Standard tier and above rides on PR Newswire's syndication network. That is the entire scope of the product.
There is no journalist database in PRWeb and no way to see who is receiving your release beyond the industry-curated email list unlocked at the Advanced tier ($360) and above, which you cannot inspect or filter. Reporting is limited to view counts and pickup numbers across syndication partners, not the kind of coverage or share-of-voice measurement a communications team reports upward with.
PRWeb makes sense as a distribution utility bolted onto a broader PR strategy, not as the strategy itself. A team with a specific announcement and no ongoing UK media relations need can use it and move on; a team that needs to track how its spokespeople are performing against competitors in the press will find nothing here to help with that.
| Feature | Basic $120/release | Standard $245/release | Advanced $360/release | Premium $480/release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search visibility | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PR Newswire syndication (1,200+ sites) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Industry journalist email distribution | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Editorial proofreading | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Sovrn blogger network | No | No | No | Yes |
| Turnaround time | 48 hours | 48 hours | 24 hours | 24 hours |
Roxhill
Media intelligence platform for UK and global PR with journalist database, media monitoring, and spokespeople analytics
Roxhill is built for communications teams that need more than a distribution channel. The core is a journalist database with genuine depth in UK national, regional, and trade press, kept current on beat changes and outlet moves through editorial intelligence rather than pure automated crawling. On top of that sits media monitoring with smart folders, and press release distribution targeted by outlet and beat instead of a blanket list.
What sets Roxhill apart is spokespeople analytics: it tracks how your organization's experts are covered relative to named competitors, in share-of-voice terms, and flags journalists writing about your sector who have not yet quoted your people. That turns thought-leadership management into something measurable rather than a qualitative guess.
The cost of that depth is opacity. Pricing for both Professional and Enterprise tiers is contact-only, there is no free trial, and there is no API, so integrating Roxhill data into a broader martech stack means manual export. For UK-focused programs the depth justifies the sales process; for a team without a UK media focus, the international database gaps are a real limitation.
| Feature | Professional Contact for pricing | Enterprise Contact for pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Journalist database access | Yes | Yes |
| Media monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Spokespeople analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Press release distribution | Yes | Yes |
| Bespoke reports (managed) | Add-on | Yes |
| API access | No | No |
Head-to-head feature comparison
| Feature | PRWeb | Roxhill |
|---|---|---|
| Core model | One-way press release distribution | Media intelligence platform (database, monitoring, distribution combined) |
| Journalist/media contact database | No | Yes (UK-focused, updated on journalist moves) |
| Media monitoring | No | Yes (smart folders by client, campaign, or topic) |
| Press release distribution | Yes (core product, PR Newswire syndication on Standard+) | Yes (built in, targeted by beat and outlet) |
| Spokespeople / share-of-voice analytics | No | Yes (share of voice against named competitors) |
| Analytics / reporting depth | Basic (views and pickup count) | Advanced (coverage frequency, outlet reach, competitive positioning) |
| API access | No | No |
| White-label delivery | No | No |
| Free tier or trial | No (free account creation, pay per release) | No (demo required, no published pricing) |
| Geographic strength | US-centric, global reach via syndication | UK press depth; thinner in North America and APAC |
| Pricing model | Pay-per-release, no subscription | Subscription, contact for pricing |
| Starting price | $120/release | Contact for pricing |
Which should you choose?
PRWebRoxhillRoxhillPRWebRoxhillPRWebRoxhillThis comparison is closer to "wire service vs media intelligence suite" than a head-to-head between similar products. PRWeb wins on accessibility and cost predictability for anyone who just needs a release published. Roxhill wins on depth for any team that has to demonstrate measurable coverage results, particularly for spokesperson positioning, and is willing to go through a sales process to get pricing. Judge them by what your PR function actually needs to prove, not by which one costs less on the page, since Roxhill does not show a price at all.
Bottom line
Use PRWeb when the job is "get this release published and indexed" and you do not need a UK-specific press list or coverage analytics; the $120 Basic tier covers that in 48 hours with no ongoing cost. Book the Roxhill demo when you are running a real UK communications program that needs a maintained journalist database, monitoring, and defensible spokesperson metrics, and can accept an undisclosed price until you talk to sales. Do not expect Roxhill to solve a US-first distribution problem, and do not expect PRWeb to give you anything resembling coverage measurement.
Frequently asked questions
Is Roxhill a good fit for a US-based company, or is it strictly for UK PR?
Roxhill accepts international media targets, but its journalist database depth is concentrated in UK national, regional, and trade press. A US-based company can use Roxhill, but the coverage gaps in North American media will be noticeable compared to a platform built primarily for that market, so it is a stronger fit for companies running UK or European press activity.
Why does Roxhill not publish its pricing while PRWeb shows exact per-release costs?
Roxhill is a subscription platform sold through a sales process, similar to other enterprise-leaning media intelligence tools, so pricing depends on account scope and is only available after a demo call. PRWeb is a self-serve, pay-per-release product with four fixed tiers ($120 to $480), which is a simpler pricing model to publish because there is no account-level negotiation involved.
Can PRWeb replace Roxhill's media monitoring for tracking brand mentions?
No, PRWeb has no media monitoring feature at all; it only reports views and pickup counts on releases you distribute through it. Roxhill's monitoring covers ongoing brand, competitor, and spokesperson mentions across print, online, and broadcast media organized into smart folders, which is a fundamentally different and broader capability than PRWeb offers.
Does either PRWeb or Roxhill offer an API for integrating with a CRM or reporting dashboard?
Neither platform offers an API as of mid-2026. Roxhill supports manual export of coverage reports and press lists but no automated data connections at either the Professional or Enterprise tier, and PRWeb has never offered API access on any of its four tiers.
What does Roxhill's spokespeople analytics actually measure that PRWeb does not?
Spokespeople analytics measures how individual executives or experts in your organization are covered in the media relative to named competitor spokespeople, expressed in share-of-voice terms, and identifies journalists covering your sector who have not yet quoted your people. PRWeb has no equivalent feature; its reporting is limited to how many outlets picked up a specific release, not who your experts are being covered against.